It's the end of agencies as we know it

Brands want streamlined partners who help them build trust. So where does one go next?

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Last year, there were many alarming headlines about the advertising and marketing industry: P&G cut $140 million of their digital advertising spend, agencies are still struggling to adapt to a new world, and in Asia (and everywhere else) consultancies are stealing agencies' business gradually.

Agencies are at an inflection point. And as brands race to build in-house agencies, they aren't completely immune from the same issues that plague traditional agencies.

Rei Inamoto, former creative chief of AKQA, and founder of business innovation firm Inamoto & Co has a solution - a four-pronged solution, in fact. According to him, process, structure, culture and leadership must be embraced and implemented by agencies that actually want to be useful and helpful to brands they work with.